Expert: Americans are holding more weapons than the state

20.06.2016

After the shooting in Orlando, when armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a pistol, the terrorist Omar Matin came to a gay club and shot it in American society has renewed the debate about the tightening control over arms sales. A number of publications even conducted their own experiment: how much time you can take a popular gun store rifle AR-15. It turned out that in just 40 minutes. What can cause the “gun” debate in the United States, “MK” told the Director of the Center on global interests in Washington, the political analyst Nikolai Zlobin.

photo: morguefile.com

– What impact the tragedy in Orlando in the context of the problem with the free carrying of firearms in the US? Could they fall under the ban?

– No, but the debate about how to control the sale of arms, as it to limit what documents should be present in different States of the person wishing to acquire weapons of course will influence. Here we must bear in mind two things.

First: the arms trade, like any trade in America, is not regulated by Federal laws and governed by state law. The Federal government has no ability to impose its own rules. Barack Obama has already a few dozen times raised this question, but discussion all the time ends in the States, which is their right to regulate this issue.

All States are looking at this situation differently depending on their history and culture, the mentality of the inhabitants. A national debate to be here, perhaps, can not. Not a subject. As for the discussion about how different States should regulate in varying degrees the sale of these weapons, it goes. It will probably be part of the presidential campaign, and in connection with the situation in Orlando it will only be intensified.

Second, what many foreign observers and many people abroad who are involved in the discussion, I do not remember. For most Americans, have a right to weapons in the home is not protection from criminals and protection of their rights from the state. Organized civilian militia, as written in the Constitution, is the traditional view: we, too, have weapons and if the government wants us to “pregnavit”, we will be able to resist. As for small arms, according to the statistics that is, in the hands of citizens more firearms than the state.

In this sense, many Americans believe that guns are the backbone of our democracy, independence and freedom. Fundamental right to what I can answer to the state if it goes with the unfair demands of me. People feel their legitimate right to gun ownership before the state appeared as such. The presence of weapons in the hands of people is a guarantee that the American democracy will continue. Officials who make decisions know it. Of course, there is discussion that the weapon – a way to protect themselves, for example, from the rapist, but actually it is much more fundamental right – the right to self-defense in the first place from the authoritarian tendencies of the state, which like any other state prone to this.

– Shooting in Orlando highlighted some challenges: homophobia, the carrying of weapons and radical Islam. Which of them prevails in discussions about the tragedy?

– Main topic – how to track fanatics-singles, is it possible to create a mechanism of protection against them. It is clear that all of them defend impossible, but the discussion is. This shooter a few times left from the networks of the CIA, FBI and other services that he put on the eye, but not solved the puzzle.

Actively there is a discussion that will compete with American security agencies is, of course, very good, but the competition should not mean a lack of coordination. American principle is competition between different structures in any issue of the absence of a monopoly, but competition should not lead to the formation of free space, to ensure that agencies do not share information, does not transmit the database to each other. So the main questions are about the fanatics and how to coordinate the work of U.S. law enforcement agencies.

After September 11, George Bush appointed intelligence tsar, “Tsar” for inner exploration, trying to coordinate it. The Americans are now in search of a system of coordination, if possible, an effective mechanism for the capture of fanatical individuals. As for homophobia, there is no special discussion. Obviously.

Yes. It is first of all a big failure of the security services, the largest over the past 15 years. After September 11 the security services have been given additional powers. Many of them were given illegally, in violation of American traditions of democracy and protection of private life.

And why the secret service used all these powers, why doesn’t it all work – is a very serious claim for him not only in public opinion. I think now the way the election campaign, but this issue will return to the Congress and the Senate. There will be a hearing, will be created a Commission that will take care of it.

– In your opinion, shooting in Orlando really increased the chances of Donald trump to win the presidential race?

– I don’t think. Trump and Hillary occupy vague positions regarding the different aspects of the gun problem in America. I remind you that it is very difficult. It is not a question that can be reduced to “I let,” or “I forbid”. Any politician who says: “I forbid arms”, will meet the end of his political career.

Here the obvious way. Very strong lobbying organizations that promote the liberalization of the arms trade. National rifle Association – the largest organization gave money to a election campaign brings together a huge number of people – from hunters to lovers of the shooting, millions and tens of millions of people who believe that if the founding fathers of America laid the idea, none of their weapons can do, and if you attempt to take, then we just weapons and usable. Here is not associated with the personality of a candidate.

Obama was very strongly opposed the liberalization of the sale of weapons. He wanted to bring more order in this matter, and he failed. Not the first time nor the first President who raises this issue as a main theme of its political agenda and not the first one on it loses. The resistance of the Americans against any attempt to alter this system is extremely high.

If you look at the number of murders, America is far behind Russia per capita, and not only from Russia. But the U.S., of course, in the first place the murder of small arms. Many Americans believe that the possession of weapons increases the chances of being killed from small arms, but dramatically reduces the chances that you will be killed any other way, as in Russia: for example, a knife or with a frying pan in a drunken brawl. No politician is a black-and-white position. As soon as trump or Hillary will declare their desire by the Federal government to tighten the screws, the States will be a great disturbance in this position.

But trump accused Obama and Clinton about radical Islam after the tragedy, it was not only about weapons.

– The policy of any President before the election becomes the subject of harsh criticism. It’s predictable. The more that Obama impose less economic claims, because with the economy of America, like, all right, compared to the previous election from the Bush where the economy was the main.

Now unusual company when a lot of international issues and too little vnutripechenochnykh topics. There is a large interest in foreign policy. And such interest in America always turns one side: all the critics of the incumbent, all candidates, regardless of what his politics were. Obama in this sense is no exception.

Hillary, who was Secretary of state, is no exception. Moreover, it was not the most successful Secretary of state in U.S. history. Views of Obama the world is easy to criticize. Moreover, Obama’s foreign policy leaves a mixed legacy: on the one hand, the problems with Iran and Cuba, concerning the Islamic factor, here the fracture was not achieved. Many Americans believe that America is not the harvest that she could collect as a result of the “Arab spring”, in particular, Obama, who was a great peacemaker and too much talked instead of stupidly to advance in this region to American interests.